There are major obstacles to the idea becoming reality, though. Chief among them is the question of safety. For Florida’s proposal to go into effect, the federal secretary of Health and Human Services has to certify that the imported drugs would be safe. No secretary has ever done that before, and the current secretary, Azar, a former pharmaceutical company executive, has voiced reservations over the idea.

“No secretary of Health and Human Services yet has said it’s safe to get away from the FDA’s gold standard,” said Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, when asked about the plan.

ADVERTISEMENT

And the plan faces strong skepticism from Trump’s own party.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R), who was DeSantis’s predecessor as governor, declined to say whether he supported Trump and DeSantis’s idea on Tuesday, saying only that he’s “glad that people are focused on reducing the cost of drugs.”

“I just think all the conversation is a good idea,” he said when pressed.

It is not the first time that Trump has bucked the traditional GOP position on drug pricing. Last year, he proposed basing certain Medicare drug prices off of lower prices paid in Europe, something that has drawn criticism from many GOP lawmakers.

Democrats, though, have long complained that Trump does not back up his words with action and are skeptical he will follow through with his various plans.

Walid Gellad, a drug pricing expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said “the key obstacle is if the secretary is able to confirm it can be done safely.”

But he added that drugs in Canada are already safe. Gellad said he is “very confident” they could be imported safely “if the will existed.”

The president has also made it clear that he is eager to push forward.

In the White House meeting on Monday, he initially proposed having Florida submit a proposal in just two days, according to Gaetz, before DeSantis cautioned that more time would be needed.

And Trump personally directed Azar not to slow down the process.

“He cautioned Secretary Azar against taking any steps that would unnecessarily delay the implementation,” Gaetz said.

Whether drug importation, if implemented, would actually cut drug prices in a significant way is also an open question.

Rachel Sachs, a drug pricing expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said it is possible that drug companies or foreign governments could throw up obstacles to Americans buying drugs at cheaper prices abroad. Or that there simply might not be enough Canadian drugs to adequately serve a state as big as Florida.

But the proposal certainly has the potential to bring lower drug prices. And it’s a sign of the calls for change on drug pricing, which are unlikely to subside with Trump in the debate.

Sachs called the burst of discussion “a continuing sign that the drug pricing issue continues to be a real problem.”

“It continues to be one that the states are searching for ways to address,” she said.